Chapter 1

In a timeless place, where time did not exist, where was the border between the real world and the world of dreams, the border between dreams and reality, the border between consciousness, subconsciousness, mind and matter.

A dwarf old man dressed in an elegant gray and white suit, bald, with a supernaturally long nose and ears, wide open eyes with protruding blood vessels and pale skin was the one who greeted Clive.

Who was sitting in a chair, beyond was a round table separating the chair where he was sitting from the desk where the unknown man was sitting looking at him.

-Welcome to my Velvet Room dear guest, my name is Igor, I will be your guide during your stay, the woman next to me is Margaret, she is usually very quiet so don't pay too much attention to her, she is my assistant and will also be at your service, do you have any questions? said the already familiar Igor to a Clive who had just come to his senses, he took a good look at the strange looking man and the woman next to him, she was a beautiful young woman with very pale skin, yellowish white color, yellowish white hair and yellow eyes with golden sparkles, she was wearing a totally blue secretary suit.

Clive remembered her words and certainly had a lot of questions, he was also nervous about this whole thing that had the word "MUTANT" in giant capital letters, Clive knows that these guys come with a lot of problems that could lead him to unpleasant situations.

Igor looked at Clive who was not speaking and was hyperventilating, the little old man tried to calm his visitor down.

-I think I can guess your question, this place is presented to those who are granted a contract, that's your case, to be able to make use of their abilities to their fullest capacity, you are a bearer of the "Wild Card" and also the Arcanum of The Fool, in other words you are a 0, someone with infinite potential and possibilities, Igor had never had a visitor before, he was a servant of Philemon who was created only to receive the "Wild Card" but even so he was created with immense power and intelligence, therefore he could quickly deduce what was happening with Clive.

The young man looked at the two people who showed no sign of hostility towards him, in fact they seemed excited, Clive decided to speak for the first time.

-A pleasure, my name is Clive Rosfield, I heard that this place is called Velvet Room, can you tell me how I got here? Clive was very curious and nervous about it, something that showed on his face, he was on the subway a few seconds ago, he accepted a strange contract from an even stranger man to then end up in a strange room, in his mind he was beating himself up and scolding himself for accepting in such an impulsive way, his feelings on edge and the strange power surrounding the environment and the matter at hand was the main catalyst for him to accept everything, in a normal situation he could have died.

-This place my dear guest has no way out, we are currently at the boundary between mind and matter, the real world and dreams- Igor explained in his high pitched voice.

Clive listened attentively to Igor and didn't understand much, in fact almost nothing, but he put it on the back burner since it's probably a thing of superkids and mutants.

-Are you a mutant," Clive thought it was an obvious question but he had to ask it to calm his uneasiness at least a little.

-Ji~ji~ji~ji~ji~ji~ji~ No boy, I am not a Meta-Homosapien, I am a creation of Philemon whose purpose is to receive you, Philemon is a very limited being since he cannot intervene in the material world unless his presence is destined, that is why I am here together with my assistant Margaret, she and I do not have a race that can be defined- Igor with a small laugh, interlaced his fingers in front of his face and cleared one of Clive's main doubts.

-They are alieni!" Clive could not finish, Margaret who for the first time was speaking and interfering in the conversation said with a calm and cold tone.

- "I'm afraid the time for conversation is over my dear guest, some other time we can clear your doubts and when you awaken your power you will be forced to come again, take this, goodbye," Margaret spoke curtly and handed a key to Clive, this time it is Igor who says goodbye.

-With that key you will be able to enter the Velvet Room when we find the right place to anchor the entrance in the material world, until next time Clive- Igor handed a card and with that Clive was expelled.

Clive who had just woken up sat properly on a nearby bench, thought about everything that had happened and felt very overwhelmed by the excess of information.

Nothing seemed real, but he looked at the fancy gun he woke up with in hand and realized that this all happened for real, he felt stupid, nervous, scared and didn't know exactly what to do.

Then Clive remembered that Margaret had told him that they would meet when his power awakened, he didn't know what power she meant, was he a mutant? What was so special about him? Clive's head was spinning with possible answers.

Finally after concluding that he could find an answer after he got home, he hurriedly put the gun away remembering that it was in a public space, he didn't know what to do with it but one thing was clear and that was that it was part of the contract, he felt a connection with the gun and something told him that he would find out how to use it.

His thoughts were interrupted by the subway he had been waiting for, having realized it was time to go home, Clive quickly got on.

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The trip was relatively short, there were no inconveniences and after arriving at the station near his home he got off to walk home.

Upon arrival she locked the door once she entered and went to her room, threw her school bag on the bed and sat on it and took her bag again opening it, looking inside for the gun she was given to know what exactly to do with it.

Taking it again between his hands, Clive wanted to know what was this connection he felt with the gun, in a crazy attempt he tried to shoot a bullet but absolutely nothing came out, he tried to say some magic words like "super shot" "activate gun" "it works fucking gun" but all in vain, he was like that for an hour or so until he got tired.

He couldn't sleep thinking about everything that happened, in a moment of madness he picked up the gun again and said to himself.

-I guess if I shoot myself in the head I won't end up like Kurt Cobain- Putting the gun to his temple and in an attempt at comedy with himself, he triggered the gun, but in a brief epiphany he knew exactly what to say before he did it. - Peeer~sooo~naa-

-I am you, you are me...-

The sound of breaking glass filled the room.

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Back in the Velvet Room, Igor opened his eyes and looked ahead at a consciousness that just entered the room.

-Wow, you came back fast The Fool, from today you stopped being a normal human, now in your heart you accepted your Persona, your journey has found its beginning, prevail and remember that you must take responsibility for your actions.

Igor, before closing his eyes again, watched as the consciousness withdrew.

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Back with Clive, Clive felt a buzzing in his head tormenting him and his eyes followed a figure that formed on his back.

It was a gray colored humanoid creature, with a body that looked metallic but had quite beautiful white hair, on what was its neck it had a red scarf that covered half of its face and on its back it carried some sort of giant harp.

-I come from the depths of your soul I am Orpheus, master of the strings!

Clive felt his head spinning, crawling after having fallen to his knees and doing his best to ignore his dizziness, he tried to touch the figure that had just spoken to him and just when one of his fingers was about to touch him, his consciousness vanished...

Orpheus remained there for a few seconds looking at the sleeping figure of his user, his red eyes lit up before disappearing but not before saying a few words to no one in specific.

-Your will is not strong enough, your bonds are non existent, when you can take the leap of faith it will be the moment when you will wake me up once again.-

With that Orpheus disappeared in shards of glass that vanished in a breeze that came out of nowhere, leaving Clive fainting.

~ THE NEXT DAY / MORNING ~

|POV CLIVE|

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Ugh, another damn day.

What happened yesterday? I remember starting my week as I normally do, wake up, music, bath, smoke, school and work...oh, it was after that.

When did it get like this? *sigh* I should stop being so impulsive, what the fuck did I summon yesterday, an outer god from Lovecraft or some cosmic nonsense like that? Didn't Miss Margaret say that once my power was awakened I would go to the Velvet Room again? In the end I never went, maybe I'll go later?

Speaking of which what time is it...?

-Shit, I'll be late for class! Damn this is the last straw, I woke up at 7:00 AM and it'll take me a fucking hour to get to Midtown.

I completed my morning grooming at incredible speeds and made it out of the house by 7:15 AM.

I felt my phone ring several times in my purse but being on the run and focused only on getting there on time made it impossible for me to answer, anyway maybe it's just the bitch calling me for who knows what, I don't want to have to hear the voice of her fucking lovers this early, fuck her for the day.

I continued with my mind focused on my trip at maximum speed until I reached the entrance of the high school, curiously I didn't feel so tired is this part of my power? Superhuman physique and summoning a strange creature hitting me with a fake head shot? Sure there will be stranger powers, but mine are still peculiar.

Before entering, with my hands I half-arranged my hairstyle, the school has no strange policies against long hair but they still demand a certain level of neatness, I'm not in the mood to be scolded for something so stupid...not today.

|END POV|

Clive continued his school life as usual, he started with his chemistry class where he did not pay much attention, then geography where he again paid little or no attention and finally before the first break he had his philosophy class, where he did not pay attention until he heard his teacher quote a certain psychoanalyst.

-Before finishing today's class I want to quote Carl Jung so that you can analyze it yourselves, no need to write it down or anything, I just wanted to share some of his research with you, his work seems magnificent to me and I would like you to pay attention, here it goes; "The Persona is the mask we put on before going out to the external world, while our Shadow is all that we dislike, that which lacks appreciation, the negative part of each individual" that's all for today class, you may leave- -I'll leave now-.

All the students left the classroom in relative order except Clive, who in a small flashback remembered a particular moment from last night.

-Peeer~soooo~naa-

-'Persona huh? Maybe my power is something like that? A mask that goes out into the outside world? or maybe like that manga I read a long time ago The Bizarre Adventures of Jose Jose was the manga's name? Ugh, I have so many questions for Igor- Clive decided to postpone his questions for the possible future visit to the Velvet Room.

As he was walking down the hallway of the high school he noticed that many students were watching the school announcement screen, where they were talking while watching the news apparently waiting for a specific one because of the little attention they were paying to the current anchors, but at the same time they were looking at the screen every so often as if they were waiting for something.

Clive with a bit of curiosity approached the crowd and listened to the students talking about some mysterious coffins.

-I'm serious, when I was on my way to the hospital to take my grandmother to the hospital for a pain in the colon, I saw a coffin in the middle of the road and it was open, there was nothing inside it but it was super sinister, for a moment I thought it was a preview for what would happen to my grandmother, but thank heaven nothing bad happened to her and today she is at home resting- a young man said to a boy next to him telling his paranormal experience, the friend was skeptical of what the young man was saying.

-Although I still think it's a bad joke, is there a lot of empty coffins in random places all over the world? Personally I think there's some creepy mutant doing that, after Magneto destroyed the San Francisco bridge I believe that any misfortune in the world is because of those freaks- The nearby students who heard him started to join in and agreed.

-I also agree. Do you know what is the murkiest thing about it? That many people were reported missing today, I am convinced that those resentful freaks caused this commotion and the coffins represent a captured victim- A girl joined the conversation of the young people, but the first boy who started the conversation refuted.

-I don't quite agree, why would a mutant or several mutants do that? An individual couldn't have done it in one night, were they a group? I'm not convinced either, just a few weeks ago Magneto's mutant terrorists attacked Alcatraz, why didn't they make that mess during those events? Wouldn't that make the most sense? And nothing ensures that the coffins represent captured people, as logical as it sounds, this has many leaks- What the boy said silenced the other young people until another student joined in.

-Forgive me for interrupting but I was also intrigued by these strange cases -did you hear the theory that this is connected to a TV show that starts at 11:59 PM? An unknown channel called "MedianocheTV" appeared interrupting the signals of all TV sets in different areas of the world, it shows random images of random people somewhat distorted but "coincidentally" all those people have resemblance to some missing people! The 4chan forums are filling up with conspiracy theories and this only happened today in the early hours of the morning!" - With the contribution of the new member of the conversation the young people entered into an increasingly hot conversation, and Clive who listened attentively also paid attention to the newscast to have the full context of the strange event.

-BREAKING NEWS! Governments around the world are concerned about a wave of reports concerning missing persons in different parts of the world, all of the disappearances were reported this morning, all are people who have not been traced since midnight tonight, the reports add up to 230 missing persons in the United States alone, being the country with the most missing since midnight today, authorities are taking action and quickly many people are pointing out the mutants of these events, Celina Vega for CMM News says goodbye for now with this report - many students to see an attractive reporter to talk about the news they were waiting for burst into murmurs and voices. 

Clive at that point walked away because it wouldn't make sense to try to listen to something with everyone talking at the same time.

On his way he met a nervous Flash who looked pale for some reason, approaching him he was about to greet him but Flash who noticed his approach grabbed him by the arms quickly and dragged him to one of the empty classrooms which didn't have so much noise.

-What the fuck is wrong with you?- Clive abruptly pulled away his arm held by Flash and demanded an explanation.

-Clive you're going to call me crazy but I saw everything, I watched everything and I couldn't do anything- Clive stopped him before Flash could continue speaking with his terrified expression.

-Hold on a moment, explain to me from the beginning what you mean, if you don't give me enough context I won't understand a damn thing you're talking about,-Clive tried to talk some sense into Flash but the latter wouldn't calm down at all.

-The shadows Clive! I saw those damn shadows come out of the TVs and take the people who were locked in coffins from one moment to the next! AND I COULD NOT DO ANYTHING! I WAS STUNNED IN HIDDENNESS WHEN I REALIZED I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO WASN'T LOCKED IN! AND NOW EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT IT AS IF IT WAS THE GOSSIP OF THE YEAR!-

-Shhhh, make less noise! If anyone hears what you say they will think you are crazy but I do believe you, I can't tell you why exactly, but I am sure that what you saw is true but I will advance you at once that I could also stay out of a coffin, but I didn't see these shadows you claim to see, one thing is clear, if what you say is true then tonight will probably repeat itself- Clive was sure of what he was saying, he remembered the contract, he remembered something about carrying the burden of "The Fall" and although he didn't know what exactly that was, evidently the events of the early morning were highly related.

-And what are we going to do Clive, we might be the next ones captured! I don't want to die yet and seeing all those people missing today tells me clearly that their fate is not a pretty thing! I saw how those monstrous shadows even devoured some coffins! I still have goals to accomplish and dreams to achieve, I can't die like that!- Flash was in a hysterical and very disturbed state, Clive needed to help him calm down quickly or else everyone will suspect something is wrong with him, if he spills the soup about how he can be free while everyone is locked in coffins then God knows what will happen to him, probably the government or some mutant will want to capture him and experiment on him.

Grabbing the blond's shoulders and shaking him hard to get him out of his monologue, Clive proposed an idea to calm him down. -Flash, listen to me clearly, tonight before midnight at approximately 11:00 PM to have time to maneuver, I want you to go to my house with your car, we explore both together and hide from these shadows you claim to see, the important thing will be to survive that period of time, do you remember exactly how long it lasts?- Just suggesting that could help him calm down and fortunately it worked when Flash recovered a little the color of his skin.

-I don't know how long exactly that thing lasts, I tried to call the police but my phone was acting strange, my fingers were sinking into the screen and it wouldn't turn on, but if I have to do my own calculation then I would say it lasts about an hour, I don't know exactly if it's more or less, the time took forever while I was hiding- The blond teenager recomposed himself a little and slowly told what little he knew.

-All right, we will work thinking it lasts an hour and let's not be so pessimistic, although we are going to prepare in case it lasts longer because we won't be idiots either, try to get weapons, your father is a millionaire and if he doesn't have hidden weapons then he is not American, in case your father is a disappointment for the country then go to Walmart and buy a few, I'm sure they don't even ask for a license there, also get some camouflage gear, you have until 11 p.m. tonight to do everything, you have to be quick- Clive was not playing with this matter, in his mind many things could go wrong and while maybe some vigilantes like Spiderman or other unknowns could stay out of their coffins, there are also high probabilities that they could not stay out of them, which would screw any possibility of "super help".

-All right *inhale* *exhale* All right, I'll do what I can- Flash thought about all the preparation he could do for this midnight and found hope, he believed he could survive with Clive's help and some good weapons, so he took several breaths and calmed down.

-Flash is aware that you must not tell anyone about this, there is a worldwide scandal about this and if they find out that someone can find the culprits of the disappearances then you will be screwed by the government and not even all your father's money can save you from them- Flash imagined himself being operated on and investigated as a lab rat and he didn't like that image, so he nodded.

-Okay buddy, thanks for helping me calm down, I needed it and rest assured, I won't spill the beans and I'll keep quiet until the end,- Clive nodded in approval and as he was about to say something else the bell rang indicating the end of the break.

-We have to go, continue with your classes as normal, but as soon as the school hours are over you move your ass to look for everything I told you - Flash nodded to Clive's words and with that they both left the classroom.

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What they both hadn't realized was that a silver-haired girl with a voluptuous body and blue eyes was hidden in the classroom, listening to the conversation from beginning to end.

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Felicia Hardy was not having a good day, mainly because she started it terribly wrong just at 12:00 AM, she was on her nightly walks under her new secret identity of Black Cat in search of stealing a famous diamond that had arrived at a jewelry store in the city.

Everything was going well, he had avoided Spiderman and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen who are the most dangerous vigilantes out there, the robbery was perfect and his stealth was flawless, but out of nowhere just before midnight all the TV device screens acted strangely and showed something called "MidnightTV".

Felicia at that moment canceled the robbery thinking that she had been discovered and left the place having this way a view of the city, she expected to hear the sirens of police and different authorities, but it was not so, she saw on a big screen which was near her how the channel showed a collage with many people who had slightly distorted photos, but it did not end there because a minute later began the really worrying thing, from the screens came out monstrous creatures whose anatomy was made mainly of shadows, dark matter and were beings that seemed to be of second dimension but that managed to interact and influence directly in the environment.

Felicia quickly fled from those creatures with a giant fear in her heart, some creatures went to specific coffins and opened them to take those who were inside to the televisions, some minorities went crazy and extended their bodies to swallow the coffins whole, the creatures that had escaped seemed to empower themselves because they increased their size and speed.

Shocked by the sight she hid as best she could until it was all over, when she waited for about an hour she saw how everything returned to normal except for some coffins that were still open, there were people lying on the floor who got up disoriented and continued with what they were doing, initially ignoring the open coffins.

Felicia was horrified by this and what happened did not allow her to sleep, but she still attended classes in the morning, when she arrived at the high school where she studied she heard many people talking about the matter of the coffins at the entrance.

They continued her classes and at the first break everyone talked about the same thing, theories here and there, many wrong as she saw it all first hand and in her mind she refuted what the other students claimed, other theories were close to the truth but with some flaws.

Just as she was about to eat some boys invited her to eat, she declined but the boys insisted incessantly, Felicia simply ignored them and moved through the crowd of students to lose them and decided to eat in a classroom, entering the nearest one she went to the back of it and started eating.

But out of nowhere two boys burst into the classroom, Felicia seeing their closeness thought they were some kind of secret couple and that sparked several ideas in her head, then she got a good look at them and recognized one of them as Flash Thompson, star player of the Midtown Football team and a guy with a lot of money.

Stealthily she crept up to them and hid well between some desks and avoided making the slightest noise, but what she heard left her shocked and the boys' plans seemed to be her ticket to a safe midnight.

-'Shit, I thought I'd see two guys kissing and thus getting material to blackmail them and take money from them, but I ended up finding two guys just like me, maybe I can get help in those creepy moments' - The girl watched the two friends leave and started to create plans in her mind where she would benefit.

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Inside the Velvet Room, Igor and Margaret were still and quiet as they always were whenever they were alone until the sound of chains breaking echoed through the place.

- ji~ji~ji~ I see that my visitor finally started to create real bonds, The Chariot is already at his disposal and his potential is coming to light, it only remains to see if he can pass his first test- Igor was looking at the card that appeared in front of him, it was a Tarot card, a Major Arcana, specifically The Chariot.

Margaret did not say a word but the excitement was evident in her eyes.

It was clear to both of them that they would witness something incredible in the times to come.

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That concludes the first chapter.